Despite losing three starters, Head Coach Gary Waters will hope to build on last year's campaign which saw the Cleveland State Vikings win the Horizon League Tournament and beat Wake Forest in the NCAA tournament before bowing out to Arizona in the second round.

Key Losses
The Vikings lost four players off of last year's squad.  J'Nathan Bullock was the team's leading scorer, rebounder and was named all-Horizon League First Team last season.  Cedric Jackson was Second Team all-league and the Horizon League Defensive Player of the Year, leading the team and league in assists and steals.

Also departing Cleveland State was starting center Chris Moore, who led the Vikings in blocked shots last season.  The Vikings will also have to replace George Tandy, who started seven games last season and was the top bench player for Cleveland State.

Additions
The Vikings have a lot of new players, but they won't be inexperienced.  Waters has several transfers and redshirts to choose from to fill in the gaps.

Jared Cunningham is a 6'9" junior transfer from Division II Arkansas-Fort Smith.  Cunningham has some post-up game, but also has range well beyond the three-point line.  He averaged 10.7 points per game and shot 38.7 percent from downtown at UA-Fort Smith.

Aaron Pogue is a former Top 50 recruit who redshirted last season after transferring from Vincennes C.C.  He is a true post player with his 6'9", 275 lb. frame.  Hailing from Ohio power program Dayton Dunbar, where he was a teammate of Norris Cole, Pogue averaged 7.1 points and 5.6 rebounds in his one year at Vincennes.  Pogue has worked hard on his conditioning, cutting 35 pounds since his arrival at Cleveland State.

Kevin James is a scoring machine, transferring from Aiken Tech J.C. in South Carolina.  James was a Third Team Juco all-American, averaging 23.4 points, 6.1 rebounds, 6.1 assists and 3.2 steals per game.  The 5'11" guard can also bomb from long range, making 48.8 percent of his three-point attempts last season.

Kevin Anderson is another Juco transfer from Technical Career Institute in New York.  Anderson is a lanky 6'10" center weighing only 215 lbs.  His main forte is shot blocking, leading TCI in blocked shots.  Anderson's offensive game is somewhat limited, but the Vikings' coaching staff believe he has tremendous upside.

Nigel Ajere is a 6'6", 225 lb. high-flyer, but hasn't played in 18 months since playing at Summit Prep in California.  Judging by video taken at Cleveland State's "Midvike Madness," the hops, measured out to a 40-inch vertical, haven't gone away.  At Summit Prep, Ajere was dominant, scoring 30.1 points per game along with 10.6 boards per game.

Charlie Woods was a redshirt by misfortune last season.  The 6'7" wing from Lansing, Mich. suffered a fracture around his eye socket chasing a loose ball in practice that required major reconstructive surgery.  Woods was 1st team all-state in Michigan his senior year, averaging 17.5 points, 8.5 rebounds and 3.6 blocks per game, while shooting 43-percent from three-point range.

Tim Kamczyc is a 6'6" walk-on who redshirted last season.  Kamczyc impressed Waters so much, he earned a scholarship for this season.  He is the typical energy and defense role player that coaches love to have around in practice.

Anthony Wells is the only true freshman coming into the Vikings program this season.  Wells, a 6'1" guard from Cleveland suburb Shaker Heights, Ohio, averaged 22.1 points per game as a senior.

Frontcourt 
The Vikings don't have a lot returning in the frontcourt.  D'Aundray Brown started 23 of the 24 games he played in last season, but missed 13 games with various injuries. The 6'4" junior wing is a high-energy player that averaged 7.4 points and 5.7 rebounds a game last season.

Joe Latas is a 6'11" sophomore who saw limited action in 16 games last season.  In those 16 games, Latas only scored 1.4 points per game.  Latas has lost weight in the off-season in hopes of running the court better and seeing more playing time.

Brown should start at SF, with Cunningham the likely starter at PF and Pogue in the center.

Backcourt

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?